Defining the most effective way to dry water-damaged books en masse is a problem endemic to all libraries, with the field of book conservation tracing its own origins directly back to the Florence flood. Yet, despite dozens of large-scale disasters and literally thousands of smaller events that have occurred in libraries worldwide since 1966, “best practices” remain unclear, especially for large-scale recovery efforts, because of the limited amount of research conducted on the long-term consequences of various drying and sterilization methods.1

The goal of this research project was to define which of five drying and two sterilization techniques caused the least mechanical damage to eighteenth-twentieth century handmade and machine-made book papers.

This research was made possible through Grant MT-2210-04-NC-09 from the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training (NCPTT).